Departing

Thursday we had a fairly relaxed day visiting the zoo and beach. The kids' favorite part at the zoo was the Meer cat exibit. There were tunnels underneath that the kids could climb through and then climb up a ladder to pop their heads up in a clear plastic dome that looked right into the Meer cat's home. Their faces were just inches away from the cats. They thought that was pretty cool.

On Friday, we spent the day with Tracey, a school friend of Cheryl's, and her 2 1/2 year old son. When we arrived at her house, I was stunned by the angle of her driveway. It appeared to be a 60 degree slope. Needless to say, I was hesitant to go down it. We had a good time going to the beach and ordering fish and chips from a Take-away later in the day.

Saturday morning, I finally got to play a little golf with Graeham, William, and one of William's friends. Austin joined us and played shy at first. However, much to the dismay of William, he warmed up quickly. Austin acted as William's caddy and was fortunate to rake many sand traps for him. When someone hit the ball into the trees on the first hole, Austin proclaimed... "Why did you hit the ball into the trees? Daddy never hits it there." After a good chuckle, Daddy hit the ball into the trees off the tee on the next hole. On another occasion, after William topped the ball, Austin exclaimed... "I can see that ball. It didn't go very far at all!"

We went back to Auntie Lyn's for lunch and had many of my favorites from NZ... Scallops, Mussel Fritters, Cheerios, Chips, and Sausage Rolls.

We are now at the airport getting ready to depart. The trip has been good with many great memories. NZ seems much more relaxed than the States and very in-tune with environmental issues. I have uploaded some more photos to our Flickr account.

See ya soon!